The present invention relates to assembly structure of weather strips installed along door opening edges of retractable roof vehicles including convertible vehicles or hard top vehicles, that make elastic contact with door glasses for sealing outside and inside of vehicles.
FIG. 5 is an external view of one type of retractable roof vehicles of which roofs that open and close are folded to open. The roof includes a soft top 1 which is folded and put away in a trunk 2 on a lower rear side of a vehicle. Another roof of the retractable roof vehicle includes a roof panel and a back window panel at the back of the roof panel instead of the soft top 1, which are folded and put away in the trunk 2 while the roof panel as folded is piled on the back window panel. Such vehicles are generally called retractable hard top, coupe cabriolet or coupe convertible.
In the retractable roof vehicle, as shown in FIG. 6, a front pillar 3 and the soft top 1 as an opening edge of a door 2 have a weather strip 20 fit in a retainer 10 installed on side edges thereof. The weather strip 20 makes elastic contact with a door glass (side glass) 5 that lifts or lowers when the door 2 is closed to seal outside and inside of the vehicle.
The weather strip 20 includes: an installation base member 21 fit between an outer-cabin side holding part 10a and an inner-cabin side holding part 10b formed on the retainer 10; a hollow part 22 disposed between an inner-cabin side end 21b and a center of the installation base member 21; a hollow outer seal 23 integrally molded with an outer-cabin side of the installation base member 21, which makes elastic contact with an upper edge and an outer-cabin side surface of the door glass 5 that lifts or lowers when the door 2 is closed; and a lip-like inner seal 24 integrally molded with an outer-cabin side of the hollow part 22, which makes elastic contact with an inner-cabin side surface of the door glass 5 when the door 2 is closed. The hollow part 22 has a lip 25 on an inner-cabin side thereof which abuts interior material (not shown) including garnish. The hollow part 22 is a watercourse for draining water guided therein outside a vehicle on a front side of the vehicle.
In this connection, the Japanese examined Utility Model Publication No. H03-15401 discloses a structure that the outer seal and the inner seal of the weather strip installed on the retainer makes elastic contact with the outer-cabin side surface and the inner-cabin side surface of the door glass that lifts or lowers.
According to the ordinary weather strip 20 of FIG. 6, as the door glass 5 is guided upward as shown in FIG. 7, the inner seal 24 which makes elastic contact with the inner-cabin side of the door glass 5 is pulled toward the installation base member 21 side. On the other hand, as the door glass 5 is guided downward in a direction of an arrow in FIG. 7, that is as the door glass 5 is lowered, the inner seal 24 is dragged by the door glass 5, thereby generating tensile force lowering a central pillar 22A which connects with the inner seal 24. The tensile force is transmitted in a direction of lowering (downward in FIG. 7) an intermediate part 21c of the installation base member 21 between the hollow part 22 and the outer seal 23 via the central pillar 22A forming the hollow part 22. As a result, there has remained a problem that holding force of the weather strip 20 relative to the retainer 10 is decreased. In a worse case, an outer-cabin side end 21a or the inner-cabin side end 21b of the installation base member 21 may come off respectively from the outer-cabin side holding part 10a or the inner-cabin side holding part 10b formed on the retainer 10. Especially, in case heads of bolts or clips (not shown) as a fastener for fixing the retainer 10 on the soft top 1 or the like are provided between the installation base member 21 and the retainer 10, since the installation base member 21 is swelled and curved toward an opposite side to the retainer 10 side (downward in FIG. 7), it becomes further possible that the installation base member 21 comes off from the retainer 10.
Examples of measures to the problem include altering shapes of the outer-cabin side holding part 10a and the inner-cabin side holding part 10b and providing additional holding parts for increasing holding force of the retainer 10 relative to the weather strip 20. But, as fitting force increases, it becomes harder to smoothly insert the weather strip 20 into the retainer 10.
Another example is moving a connecting position of the central pillar 22A relative to the installation base member 21 to a position on an inner-cabin side end 21b side of the installation base member 21 for hampering force lowering the intermediate part 21c. But the structure may cause another problem that size of the hollow part 22 reduces and the hollow part 22 does not sufficiently maintain function thereof as the watercourse for draining water.
While the Japanese examined Utility Model Publication No. H03-15401 discloses techniques of increasing fitting force and improving insertion property of the weather strip into the installation base member, the Japanese examined Utility Model Publication No. H03-45401 does not disclose the hollow part which functions as the watercourse for draining water as shown in FIG. 6. Accordingly, the Japanese examined Utility Model Publication No. H03-45401 imposes less limitation on the shape of the weather strip.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide the assembly structure of weather strips capable of securing stable holding force without difficulty in insertion while maintaining the watercourse for draining water.